


Best Two Out of Three

by Peril_in_Peace



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Childhood Games, Family Fluff, Gen, Nebula Week, Sibling Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-24 00:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15618741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peril_in_Peace/pseuds/Peril_in_Peace
Summary: Nebula has always wanted to win. It's about time she did.Nebula Week prompts Childhood & Family.





	Best Two Out of Three

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't see enough for Nebula Week, so I wrote something. It was kind of fast, and it's just a fluffy little thing, but Nebula deserves some fluffy. :)

Nebula’s eyes narrowed, looking over at Quill and Mantis sitting across from each other at the next table over. 

“ _ What _ are they  _ doing _ ?” she asked.

“Hmm?” Gamora barely looked up from her datapad, absently chewing at a fingernail. Nebula rolled her eyes.

“Your… ugh…  _ boyfriend _ and the bug girl.” Gamora raised her eyebrows and turned to look.

Quill had his elbow on the table and Mantis’ hand clutched in his, if a little awkwardly; his other hand was braced against the table as he eyed her seriously. Mantis’ back was to them, but ramrod straight, the fingers of her free hand curled underneath the tabletop for leverage.

Gamora shrugged and turned back to her pad. “Peter’s been showing her these little children’s games from Earth. Yesterday we all had to play…” The datapad dipped away from her as she searched the ceiling with a sigh. “What was it… Red Light, Green Light?”

Quill and Mantis stared at their clasped hands intently.

Gamora tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and returned to her reading.

Quill nodded and Mantis said sternly, “One, two, three, four. I declare a thumb war,” as their thumbs crossed over one another in rhythm with the rhyme.

“Five, six, seven, eight,” Quill continued, the picture of concentration. “Try to keep your thumb straight.”

And a little corner of hell broke loose.

Quill and Mantis pushed up from their chairs, brows furrowed and tongues pressed between their lips, as their thumbs wove around one another, the motions telegraphing up their arms and through their shoulders.

Quill leaned forward, clearly trying to use his greater size to his advantage, aiming for the base of Mantis’ thumb with the pad of his. But she slipped him. Once, twice, before finally… pinning her thumb down against his curled forefinger with a triumphant “ha!”

Mantis’ eyes widened and her antennae glowed.

Quill burst out laughing. Mantis gently nudged his thumb off of hers and reversed the pin.

“Cheater!” he gasped between fits.

“For using the tools at her disposal?” Gamora grinned conspiratorially at Nebula, but seemed to know Quill was glaring at the back of her head. “Isn’t that exactly what you’ve been encouraging her to do?”

Mantis preened. Nebula’s lip twitched, but she just managed to pull back the smile.

“Well, yeah. But not against  _ me _ !” Quill pulled his hand out of Mantis’ grip.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” Gamora said.

Quill’s face pinched around his nose, but he turned back to Mantis. “Best two out of three.” Her face lit up and she held out her hand.

That time, Quill used underhanded tactics, stepping on her toes to try and throw Mantis off. Nebula was pleased to see that the strategy only made Mantis more invested in winning.

Mantis scowled.

And Quill dropped back into his chair, not quite asleep, but drowsy and squinting, hand sluggishly coming up to rub his eyes.

“A’… you suck…” he mumbled. Mantis crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well,  _ you _ should not have--” she started.

“And ‘B,’ you didn’t even  _ win _ , because I let go,” Quill stuck his tongue out. “Doesn’t count.”

“It  _ does _ count. You for- forfeit! It  _ counts _ !” Mantis practically stomped her foot. But Quill, looking pitiful, draped over his chair, must have suckered her into dropping some of her irritation. She sighed, leaning over to help him sit up properly.

Quill smiled gingerly, holding onto Mantis’ arm. “Hey,” he said. She looked at him, expression softening.

“You’re getting really good at controlling it.” Quill said. Mantis smiled a little and nodded. “Didn’t even have to say anything. And I didn’t fall all the way asleep… I know you’ve been workin’ on like… managing how strong your, uh… output is, with Drax.”

Mantis sat back down. “Thank you,” she answered, then grinned brightly. “But I still win.”

Quill rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Fine. You win.”

* * *

“ _ You _ were a sore loser,” Nebula broke the silence left by Mantis and Quill going off their separate ways to their duties around the  _ Quadrant _ .

Gamora looked up. Nebula shrugged and looked around the empty mess hall, feigning disinterest.

Gamora pursed her lips, then slowly set down her datapad.

“I never lost,” she stated, simply. Nebula huffed incredulously and Gamora tilted her head.

“What? When we were children? You know I never... lost.” She slowed, cautiously, her eyes dropping to the table and fingers curling a little.  

Nebula spared a second’s grace for her sister’s show of sentiment, then smirked. “You did.”

“I did not,” Gamora countered.

“You did.”

“Did not.”

“Once.” Nebula held up a finger.

Gamora’s eyes narrowed. “ _ When _ ?” she demanded through her teeth.

“That time on Neth. We counted who could hit more orloni with pebbles from our bedrolls,” Nebula leaned forward as she saw the memory surface in Gamora’s eyes. “I won.”

“That doesn’t  _ count _ . I couldn’t see them as well in the dark!” Gamora countered.

“Well, it certainly wasn’t  _ my _ fault I had a brand new cybernetic eye.” Nebula sat back smugly.

Gamora sat back too, mirroring her and watching Nebula carefully. For a moment, Nebula expected her sister to slip into another guilt spiral.

Not that she didn’t deserve it.

But it didn’t change anything. Hearing the words again…

Well, Nebula already believed what she needed to believe from Gamora. She wouldn’t be sitting in their rustbucket ship if she didn’t.

Gamora regarded her with a ghost of a smile, though. “No, I guess it wasn’t,” she said softly, then held out her hand, wiggling her thumb.

“Best two out of three?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

Nebula leaned back, snorting. Then smiled, a little bit sideways at her sister, and took Gamora’s hand, resting her bluish-chrome thumb atop their clasped fists.

Nebula tilted her head, daring her to say something about the cybernetic hand. Gamora only glared at her halfheartedly, then sighed.

“Ready?” Gamora asked.

“Get on with it,” Nebula said gruffly.

“One, two, three, four. I declare a thumb war,” Gamora said carefully, making sure to say the rhyme right.

“Five, six, seven, eight,” Nebula rushed, anxious to get to the fight. “Try to keep your thumb strai--”

Gamora immediately moved to wrap her thumb around Nebula’s, using her speed against her sister’s strength. Nebula snarled, and found herself lifting from her chair, pushing her chest closer in toward the battle.

Gamora countered Nebula’s advances with light evasions, making few offensive moves, save her opening press. Nebula read her strategy, trying to box her in with feints, only to react to opportunities just a little too slowly.

Nebula slid the tip of her thumb down to Gamora’s middle knuckle, trying to nudge it back toward her hand and gain some leverage. Working by feel, she risked a look at Gamora’s face.

Her sister grinned. A real, open smile that showed in her eyes.

Nebula thought maybe she was smiling too.

Until she felt the web at the base of Gamora’s thumb with the receptors at the tip of hers, and shifted just enough; Nebula made a desperate grab, and pulled at Gamora’s thumb, pinning it down.

She counted in her head as Gamora’s grin faded and she struggled, pulling at both of their hands, but Nebula held fast. Five seconds, and she let go.

“I win. Two out of three,” she said.

Gamora was pouting, but when she looked up, something she saw changed her expression. Nebula noticed the edges of her lips twitching, like she was fighting back laughter.

She frowned. “You let me win,” Nebula said.

Gamora put her hands up, defensively. “I didn’t! You…” She looked hurt, eyes drooping in a cross between shame and… pride? “You kicked my ass. You didn’t see me  _ trying _ ?”

Nebula had seen her try. “It was a good battle,” she conceded. Gamora let the smile spread across her face.

“Yeah,” was all she said.

Gamora rounded the table and squeezed her shoulder, then headed out the mess.

“I win,” Nebula whispered, through her lingering smile.  

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
